Lothian Edinburgh Tour
I feel I did well here at Showbus - £15 for a low floor decker which I saw being sold for £20-£30 on other stalls. I got the cheapest one I found, which is missing the nearside mirror. However, the absence of mirrors and wipers isn't really a thing that concerns be on buses I want to repaint.
So then, what to do with this thing?
I would have plenty of uses for a Plaxton President bodied Trident - if it were closed top!
The model fleet doesn't really need an open top bus, especially as Nottingham isn't really a city which suits a bus tour. Going under the tram wires would be a bit problematic too, since electrocuting the top deck passengers probably isn't a good idea (I know this is unlikely, but if one of them had an umbrella that they held up in the air...)
Outside of the city, I realise there is nowhere in RB's operating area which is scenic enough to warrant an open top bus! Sure, hop on board for a trip to Sawley Marina via Tesco Extra Long Eaton - I think not!
NCT had some Presidents, single door but closed top. I have a pretty awful model of one in 1:148 scale. If this had been a closed top I'd have probably done it as one of them, or just added it to RB's decker fleet, either normal or for the P&R.
So - what about open top Presidents? There are loads like this in the red City Sightseeing livery of various places - Llandudno, York, London etc - but I might as well leave it as it is if I want this livery.
Another thing is some will be dual door, or part-open top. I think if I tried to scratch build a partial, or even full, President roof back on it wouldn't look convincing.
Conversions I would consider are changing the windows to gasket glazing (with the stupid lower deck window line) or changing the chassis to be Volvo B7TL or DAF - although length and number of windows might become an issue! One of York's electric Presidents would be an interesting one to say that I did it - but it would be a bit boring to do.
Moving away from the City Sightseeing fleets, I found some other open top or part-open top Presidents operated by EYMS, Southern Vectis, Stagecoach in their Lake District green livery, First Kernow in a nice blue livery, Whitby Town Tour, Reading Buses and Ensign Bus - none of which I can be bothered to model.
So basically, I either:
Leave it as it is (which it will be anyway for at least some time because of reasons)
Paint it in a fictional NCT open top livery
Paint it in a fictional open top livery for some other operator
Try and build a top deck and make it just another President
Add it to the model fleet
Lothian Edinburgh Tour
I feel I did well here at Showbus - £15 for a low floor decker which I saw being sold for £20-£30 on other stalls. I got the cheapest one I found, which is missing the nearside mirror. However, the absence of mirrors and wipers isn't really a thing that concerns be on buses I want to repaint.
So then, what to do with this thing?
I would have plenty of uses for a Plaxton President bodied Trident - if it were closed top!
The model fleet doesn't really need an open top bus, especially as Nottingham isn't really a city which suits a bus tour. Going under the tram wires would be a bit problematic too, since electrocuting the top deck passengers probably isn't a good idea (I know this is unlikely, but if one of them had an umbrella that they held up in the air...)
Outside of the city, I realise there is nowhere in RB's operating area which is scenic enough to warrant an open top bus! Sure, hop on board for a trip to Sawley Marina via Tesco Extra Long Eaton - I think not!
NCT had some Presidents, single door but closed top. I have a pretty awful model of one in 1:148 scale. If this had been a closed top I'd have probably done it as one of them, or just added it to RB's decker fleet, either normal or for the P&R.
So - what about open top Presidents? There are loads like this in the red City Sightseeing livery of various places - Llandudno, York, London etc - but I might as well leave it as it is if I want this livery.
Another thing is some will be dual door, or part-open top. I think if I tried to scratch build a partial, or even full, President roof back on it wouldn't look convincing.
Conversions I would consider are changing the windows to gasket glazing (with the stupid lower deck window line) or changing the chassis to be Volvo B7TL or DAF - although length and number of windows might become an issue! One of York's electric Presidents would be an interesting one to say that I did it - but it would be a bit boring to do.
Moving away from the City Sightseeing fleets, I found some other open top or part-open top Presidents operated by EYMS, Southern Vectis, Stagecoach in their Lake District green livery, First Kernow in a nice blue livery, Whitby Town Tour, Reading Buses and Ensign Bus - none of which I can be bothered to model.
So basically, I either:
Leave it as it is (which it will be anyway for at least some time because of reasons)
Paint it in a fictional NCT open top livery
Paint it in a fictional open top livery for some other operator
Try and build a top deck and make it just another President
Add it to the model fleet